Aloys la Touche

"The worm has grown a spine... now he's a snake."

―Arno Dorian describing la Touche, 1791.

Aloys la Touche (died 1793) was a former tax assessor who became a member of the French Rite of the Templar Order during the French Revolution.

Initially an enforcer for the Roi des Thunes at the Cour des Miracles, la Touche advanced up the Templar hierarchy after his master's assassination. He was later sent to Versailles, where he spread the Reign of Terror by carrying out mass executions until the Assassin Arno Dorian killed him in 1793.

Biography

Losing his job

La Touche: "Fired? But... but why?"

Taxman: "Because, (Mister) la Touche, your last report contained numerous... errors."

La Touche: "Sir, I.. I triple-checked those figures! They're not in error, ten thousand livres simply vanished from His Majesty's treasury!"

—La Touche being fired from his job.

Before the French Revolution, la Touche was part of the French middle-class and worked as a tax assessor. However, after discovering that 10,000 livres had been stolen from King Louis XVI's treasury and reporting this to his superior, la Touche was dismissed from the office and charged with bribery.

La Touche being fired

Unable to find employment elsewhere, he became frustrated with the aristocrats controlling the administration of the kingdom, believing that they were more interested in personal profit than doing their jobs. Disillusioned and disgraced, la Touche joined the Cour des Miracles, where his newfound cruelty and his knowledge of the economy helped him become the right-hand man of the Roi des Thunes.

Working for the Roi des Thunes

Beggar: "Please, no! I've done all I can, it's the times! No one wants to-"

La Touche: "His Grace doesn't care about excuses. He cares about results. If you can't make your quotas, he makes... adjustments. Doctor, cut his foot off."

—La Touche punishing one of the beggars, 1791.

While at the tavern one night, Charles Gabriel Sivert approached la Touche and said he had heard the tales the latter told about his new master. The Roi des Thunes' subsequent involvement in Grand Master François de la Serre's murder led to both men being recruited into a radical faction within the Templar Order, headed by the self-proclaimed Grand Master François-Thomas Germain.

La Touche overseeing the amputation of a foot

As a result, both Sivert and the Cour des Miracles became ways of funding the Templars, but the latter was forced to shoulder the burden after Sivert's assassination, with the rising quotas being viciously enforced by la Touche. Those who did not meet the required amount were crippled to inspire more pity from Paris' citizens, while those who did not survive their "alterations" were simply tossed into the gutter to rot.

On 19 January 1791, la Touche made his rounds as usual, following which he returned to his clinic. There, he sensed something was amiss and quickly hurried inside. He was then confronted by the Assassin Arno Dorian, who had been stalking him in order to learn his employer's location.

La Touche was swiftly disarmed and shackled to the wall, with Arno demanding the Roi des Thunes in exchange for his life. The Templar immediately succumbed to Arno's demands and gave up the location of his master, with Arno remarking that he had expected someone with a stronger spine than himself and leaving la Touche to contemplate whatever punishment the Roi des Thunes would inflict on him for his betrayal.

La Touche reporting to the Roi des Thunes

After the Assassin's departure, la Touche managed to free himself and rushed to the catacombs to warn his master, who ordered his enforcer to lead a search party and eliminate Arno. However, when la Touche actually came across the Assassin, he sealed himself behind a gate and pointed Arno in the direction of the Roi des Thunes, before fleeing the sewers. His master was subsequently assassinated and control over the Cour des Miracles passed to the Marquis de Sade.

Enforcing the Reign of Terror

"So, this is what France has come to. Parasites bleeding the Revolution dry."

―La Touche overseeing a public execution, 1793.

A month or so later, la Touche met up with other high-ranking Templars at the Hôtel de Beauvais to discuss their next move with Germain. When Marie Lévesque expressed her concerns that Chrétien Lafrenière was targeting them, la Touche informed her that an Assassin had been manipulated into killing the man. La Touche then fetched Frédéric Rouille, whom he berated for having a prisoner thrown out of a window, noting that it could alert someone to their meeting with Germain. La Touche played little part in the subsequent meeting, but supported le Peletier's argument that their patient planning risked discovery since the Assassins had already found and eliminated Sivert and the Rois des Thunes. Germain brushed this aside, however, as the two had already served their purpose.

Germain explaining la Touche's task

After the Grand Master had laid out his plans and prepared to leave, la Touche trailed after him and asked what he needed to do. He was subsequently introduced to and placed under the command of fellow Templar Maximilien de Robespierre, with the intent of spreading the Reign of Terror in Versailles once the revolution had sufficiently radicalized. La Touche would go on to arrest and execute dozens of people, causing him to be feared and hated among the populace.

In June 1793, la Touche held another public execution, condemning the prisoners for being traitors to the revolution. In actuality, most of them were merely guilty of stealing bread to feed themselves and their families, but the Templar ordered them brought forward anyway. To his utter surprise and horror, however, the first prisoner was Arno himself, who quickly broke free and stabbed la Touche with his Hidden Blade before anyone could react. From his memories, Arno discovered Robespierre's ties to the Templar Order and marked him as his next target.

Behind the scenes

Aloys la Touche is a fictional character, voiced by the Canadian actor Olivier Lamarche, who appears in the 2014 video game Assassin's Creed: Unity, though the game's internal files instead name him as "Treville la Touche". He appears in quite a few missions throughout the game and players can even preemptively kill him in some but this causes desynchronization until his final appearance.

Gallery

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  Concept art of la Touche
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  Head renders of la Touche
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  More head renders
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  Head sculpts of la Touche
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  La Touche with his new compatriots after losing his job
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  La Touche arriving at the clinic
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  Arno interrogating la Touche
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  La Touche overseeing an execution
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  La Touche's assassination profile

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Unity